Land-Use Change Effects on Soil Erosion: The Case of Roman “Via Herculia” (Southern Italy)—Combining Historical Maps, Aerial Images and Soil Erosion Model

Land use and land cover (LULC) strongly influence soil erosion/sediment yield, and predicting changes in soil erosion is an important management strategy. Tracing the Earth’s past also helps us better understand the future evolution of the landscape, but research using modern mapping capabilities is hampered by the scarcity of historical landscape information. To fill the data gap and provide an example of how historical maps might be used in land-use change research, we combined an old paper map based on the IT Military Topographical Institute (ITM), aerial photos, and orthophotos to derive land-use history and landscape dynamics at fine scales for a segment of the Roman route “Via Herculia” located in the north-western sector of the Basilicata Region, Italy. Three LULC scenarios were then analysed to represent land use in 1870, 1974, and 2013. Starting from such scenarios, we applied a soil erosion model (Unit Stream Power Eosion and Deposition—USPED) to understand how land-use change over time has modified the areas subject to erosion and deposition. The results show an increase in erosion (from 17% to 20% of the total area) and sediment deposition (from 15% to 19%) over the period 1870–1974. In contrast, over the period of 1974–2013, the results show a decrease in gross erosion (from 20% to 14% of the total area) and sediment deposition (from 19% to 13%).